Comparing Things: Oat Milk
When Victor was visiting a few weeks ago, he mentioned he'd been investigating more sustainable alternatives to soya milk. Oat milk struck me as having some potential, since oats are the dominant grain crop in Scotland. Jamie found some commercial oat milk at the Waitrose, and we tried it today.
I made one mug each of tea with cow, soya, and oat milks. Jamie had no trouble telling them apart blind, but I found I had to put much more into the oat mug to get the colour right. It had less taste than the soya I'm used to, so the tea flavour came through more. It was better after I topped up the oat milk to a more standard colour, so I conclude that taste would not be a barrier to switching if I could prove oat milk more sustainable.
Oatly is produced in Sweden of Swedish-grown oats, while Alpro only says it uses non-rainforest soya and I can't track down where it's produced. Their packaging is nearly identical and recyclable where I live. Nutritionally, Alpro contains three times the protein and half the carbohydrates of Oatly, which makes it more suitable to my diet. They are even on calcium, which seems to be added to both, but soya contains plant oestrogen that the internets say is good for women.
So the winner seems to be soya for now. It would be great if I could get Scottish oat milk, or better yet, make my own out of the Scottish oats I buy in bulk from Real Foods. I tend to rely on my milk substitute for a portion of my daily protein, since I don't eat a lot of meat anymore, but now that I've moved away from store-bought cereal in favour of homemade granola with yogurt, that may not matter as much. Great, now I sound like a goddamn hippie.

